Turning firstly to fodders, alfalfa hay and grass fodders make up a large percentage of animal feed in the United States. Hay is normally air dried and sun cured to a moisture level of approximately 12%. Otherwise, the hay must be used within a short time or it molds. Up to 25% of the feed value of a hay crop can be lost to mold and heat damage. Rain can ruin the entire crop. The drying time normally ranges from one or two days in hot dry climates to two weeks in wet cool climates. In order to reduce drying time and minimize the possibility of mold and rain damage, products are utilized which break down the wax layer of the stems letting air get to the inside sooner than otherwise whereby drying occurs more rapidly. These products often include mold inhibitors thereby allowing drying to a moisture content higher than 12% resulting in further speeding up of drying and in the reduction of leaf shatter and feed value loss which occurs on baling drier hay. The most popular liquid products are expensive and rely for mold growth inhibition on propionic acid, a relatively weak mold growth inhibitor. Thus, there is a need for a less expensive preservative composition and/or a composition which includes a more powerful mold growth inhibitor which would allow drying to a lesser moisture content.
Turning now to silage, hay which is cut green, and chopped and ensiled normally starts out containing 30-40% dry matter. Unless preserving additives are utilized, mold growth can occur resulting in production of enzymes which reduce complex carbohydrates to simple sugars and bacteria thriving on the sugars attack protein turning it into indigestible material, resulting in a loss of 25-35% of the dry matter, and a bad odor is produced. It is known to utilize formic acid to inhibit mold growth and preserve carbohydrate, and it is known to use formaldehyde to inhibit mold growth and preserve protein. It is also known to use methanol in combination with formaldehyde to stabilize the formaldehyde against paraformaldehyde formation, and it is known that methanol has some preservative function. It is also known to use the combination of formic acid and formaldehyde but usually such use is with a composition containing more formic acid than formaldehyde. Chemical Abstracts 85:92439f discloses this type of composition. Russian Patent No. 685,133 discloses this type of composition which also includes methanol. It has been found herein that compositions with elevated usage of formic acid result in a reduction in the animal's voluntary intake. U.K. Patent Application No. 2,120,924A discloses a preservative composition including an excess of formaldehyde over formic acid which does not include methanol and which includes methyl vinyl ether/maleic anhydride copolymer to suppress formaldehyde vaporization; the composition is applied in relatively large quantities and the copolymer in it has no food value. Thus there is a need for a preservative composition including more formaldehyde than formic acid with the advantages of this combination which is also protected against paraformaldehyde formation and wherein vaporization is suppressed by an ingredient with food value and which is effectively used in relatively low amounts.
Turning now to wet by-product animal feeds, e.g. brewers grain, these start to mold within a few days unless subjected to drying which costs approximately ton. Currently, such feeds are normally not chemically preserved. Thus, there is a need for preservative compositions to reduce or eliminate drying cost.
There is a further need for compositions which will effectively preserve dry feeds. The problem in respect to dry feeds is that the preservative compositions will not penetrate into these and no additive has been included to overcome this problem. While surfactants are marketed which are asserted to implement penetration into feeds of molasses added as a carbohydrate supplement, such surfactants are not known to have been used heretofore to aid penetration of preservative composition into dry feeds.